This volume (Being the Firth Volume of the Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS, 2000) investigates Eastern Tibetan recov-ery from the devastation of High Socialism and a new engagement with attempts to modernise the region in the era of <reform and opening> in post-Mao China.
Amdo Tibetan in Transistion covers all major ar-eas of cultural revival in post-Mao Amdo: The active negoation of culture and identity is ad-dressed in public debate about traditional culture, in attempts at language standardisation, and in reflections on sexuality. Religious culture is rep-resented by discussion of critical perspectives on reincarnate lamas and by case studies of revival and reinterpretation of popular rituals, Amdo Tibetan self-expression in art, literature and performance and studied by means of folksongs, painters and their works, and the changing eco-nomics of cultural production. The fianl chap-ters deal with social and economic trends in two nomadic pastoral areas and with foreign aid for new Tibetan schools.
This is a unique introduction to contemporary life and attitudes in north-eastern Tibet, invalu-able for understanding modern Tibetan life in China today, how it developed, and what it is rapidly becoming.